It's Been A While
by Lunaculus
Summary: Oneshot Ventfic. No one knows where the mayor has been disappeared for such a long time. When she finally appears again, she seems more tired than usual. Vesta tries her best to console.


The snow came and melted away with no sign of footprints outside of the mayor's house aside from that of Pete. As soon as spring arrived the small pathway to the mayor's doorstep was overrun with flowers sprouting from the unwalked ground. The log manor was starting to feel like a gravestone with its empty, dark windows and undisturbed surroundings. This wasn't anything particularly new or unordinary to occur – the wide-eyed human would often disappear without a trace only to reappear later with a truckload of gifts to all her friend along with a barrel of apologies. It had been a little over a year since she'd become the mayor, so everyone had grown accustomed to this by now. Of course a respectable mayor would have several things to attend to outside of their mayoral duties as well.

As another day was slowly approaching its end, Vesta sighed and leaned back in her writing chair to stretch. She hadn't noticed it had gotten dark and had been working on her writing in pure moonlight for a while now. Her white eyes rolled over the sheet of paper that was decorated with flowers on the borders. It was finished. Another letter for the mayor. Last time she had met with the human, she'd announced with a grin that she'd happily be Vesta's new pen pal. It didn't matter to her that the mayor, Doori, took long times to answer her letters. What mattered to her was that she tried. Getting to pour her heart out to a dear friend was also a good bonus.

The light quickly moving in the corner of her eye startled Vesta. She gasped and jumped off of her chair to hurry to the window, peering out. Another light. And yet another. Vesta's mouth curled to a soft smile as she watched the skies be set ablaze by soothing stars. She had completely forgotten about the meteor shower! A quick glance to the clock showed that it was already a little past midnight. That didn't stop the sheep from strutting out of the door and into the chilly spring air, though.

The flowers waved hypnotizingly in the salty sea breeze that blew through the town center. The quiet roar of the waves in the nearby beach, just beyond the cliff, tempted Vesta to go walk in the sand. As her mind and eyes focused in the wonders of the sky, her hooves made the decision for her. With a deep, relaxed breath she started heading towards the ramp to the beach – only to freeze in place as her eyes lowered and spotted an all too familiar figure sitting on the bench by the edge of the cliffside.

"...mayor?"

The word was uttered too quietly and went unheard. The human's gray eyes remained upwards towards the sky with a look of exhaustion. Something in her aura seemed... older, yet more brittle compared to her usual straightforward, cheerful self. Messy dark blue locks of hair sticking out in a silly manner finishing off the look made her seem as though she was asleep and not fully there. Vesta approached the human quietly with a warm, soothing smile, calmly taking a seat next to her and lifting her eyes up at the skies as well.

The silence lasted. After a while Vesta was starting to think the mayor might not have noticed her. Right as she was about to open her mouth to a greeting, however, Doori spoke.

"...do you ever wonder what the world would be like if everyone wasn't... nice?"

The question caught the sheep off guard. She frowned slightly in worriesome contemplation and shot a curious glance at the mayor from the corner of her eye.  
"More difficult, I'd think. Has someone been mean to you?"

A soft, empty chuckle came in response.

"It's not about that. Of course that happens. It's just..." the human sighs heavily and her eyelids press down momentarily. Vesta took note of the tightness of her lips when she swallowed.

"What if Nook didn't trust you to pay your loans whenever you can and instead punished you for not paying it in time? What if you had to earn your right to live by working instead of just earning it by existing? ...what if everything was more unnecessarily complex?"

Vesta's frown deepened and she stared intensively at the flowers growing in front of them. She had never really imagined anything of the sort – and why would she? Why worry yourself with thoughts of a dark place when you essentially live in a utopia? Yet the way the mayor spoke of these things felt as though she had experienced them first hand... The purple violets swaying in the breeze gave her no answer.

Before she could come up with an answer, the mayor leaned her head slightly on her wool-covered shoulder.  
"It's okay. I don't expect you to be able to answer that."  
"It sounds like you're under a lot of stress."

"...I can't deny that."

"...would you like to talk about it, baassu?"

The tense weight of the body leaning against Vesta slowly relaxed. Another small eternity passed with the two watching the reflections of the meteors light up the surface of the ocean ahead.

"I'm just so tired of everything."

The words were barely a whisper. Despite her increasing worry, Vesta gave the human a reassuring smile.  
"If you're tired, you need to take a rest, right?"

"...I wish I could. But a week's not enough. A month would still barely be enough. Because even if you take a break, there's just... things in this life that you can't push to the future. Things you need to do every day. And those things alone are just... draining me."

Vesta gazed up at the skies to watch a particularly bright meteor fly overhead. She closed her eyes for a fleeting moment and murmured a small, inaudible wish before awkwardly placing her other hoof atop Doori's hand. A motion meant to be friendly and comforting, but which, with the roughness of her hoof, slightly startled the human at first.

"It's okay not to put your all in everything, baassu. If things are overwhelming you, you should try and take it easier for a while."

"...like I've done with the town?"  
"No one expects miracles from you, cupcake."

The nickname gained a quick, sad smile from the mayor.

"I wish I could just live here all the time", she sighed, her hand gently clutching into a fist beneath Vesta's hoof. "Everything's so much easier. Everyone's friendlier. ...anywhere else I'd just..."

"Just?"

Doori let out a broken laugh. She nuzzled her face even more against Vesta's soft wool, as if attempting to hide it. Flustered, Vesta gave her friend a slightly confused look only to catch a glimpse of the human's tearstained face.

"You know how everyone tells you you should never be selfish and how you should always do things to make others happy? I feel like that's all I've ever done. I don't know what I want from anything. I can't see a future for myself so I... I don't know what to do for myself. And it's exhausting. I keep wishing for someone to just make the decisions for me so I don't have to look for a purpose and my purpose would just be for that one person but... I'm also so tired of just doing what others say. But when I make my own decisions, it drains me so much. Everything is too complicated and I... I wish I could just not exist. Just for a little while I wouldn't have to think or feel or do anything. Other people make it look so easy. But for me it's just so hard to just... be."

The human broke into sobs and clutched onto Vesta's wool with her fingers. The gesture along with the sobs graced a soft, friendly smile onto Vesta's face. With a deep sigh, the sheep switched her position ever so slightly so that the mayor could sob against her chest, hoof sliding down her back to hold her close.

"You've been working very hard lately", she chuckled lightly, but without a mock in her voice. "And that's great, cupcake! You can be proud to have worked so hard. It's alright now, baassu. You can rest. It's okay to slow down now. ...I'm proud of you."

The last words sunk like a blade and stopped Doori's breathing for a second, before her sobs became louder. She pressed her face even deeper into the sheep's inviting, warm fluff, unable to stop crying. And for as long as it took for the shooting stars to die out in the sky, Vesta embraced her.

And the mayor rested.


End file.
